Goals! And much progress was made…
January: Plan the shit out of this year. Done. Well done.
February: Finance. Get your finances in order, girl. My finances were never really out of order, but I wanted to research my investment options before rushing into anything. My mother, in particular, is always telling me that I need to invest. I don’t think she knows the first thing about investments – except what my father tells her (he is the investment guru). I’ve always seen investments (in stocks and funds) as kind of a crapshoot. You might get lucky. And if you follow the market, and make wise decisions and play the game…yeah, you know what? I might get rich, but probably not, and I’ll have invested a lot of time in an activity in which I’m not all that interested. I don’t think that necessarily puts me ahead in the end. So. I researched some companies I liked, because my big lightbulb/AHA! moment was figuring out that I could give money to endeavors and companies that I actually support and know something about. Note that the operative word here is *could*. I could, but I did not. I did keep track of some stocks with that handy stocks app that came with my iPod software. The one I couldn’t ever imagine finding a use for. I’ve looked at it a few times. Not enough to warrant its inclusion on my device and not enough to warrant any expenditures toward stocks of my own. I am virtually playing the stock market. When I feel like it. I also planned to consolidate my IRAs, because one of them has been languishing for the past 5 or 10 years without any action on my part, and the other, while doing slightly better, isn’t something I’m comfortable contributing to either. I figured one might be easier to keep track of. I researched my options, and while it’s possible to combine them, the consolidation requires that I open a new fund, then transfer the IRA, then convert it. And it may require some additional money up front, which is lame. So. Both funds continue as they were. No harm done. CDs and moneymarket funds seem like they might do a little better than the mutual funds and stocks, but I haven’t bothered to acquire any of those either. I was also going to come up with a budget to track my spending and figure out how much I could live on. You know, the bare minimum, and then save everything else. That would take actual work and I’d have to create a spreadsheet and while I’m diligent, I’m already keeping track of a bunch of other things that are more pressing. So, instead of saving as much as I could possibly save by keeping these kinds of records and figures, I decided I’d just transfer a set amount of money to my savings account from my paycheck every time I receive one. I could probably automate this to occur at regular intervals, but I don’t want to give up the control just yet. In this way, I’ve managed to save $4000 this year. Which is pretty good, and beats the heck out of giving it to someone else to see what they can make of it. Oh, this? I can make a hat, a brooch, a pterydactyl. Mostly, they just make most of it disappear and I get to watch it slowly – over the years – build itself back up to where it was when I originally invested. Hm. How is *that* beneficial? As this seems to be working out for me, I’m going to continue to do it, and not worry about the rest of it until/unless I make a life/career decision that impacts what I’m able to spend/save. Oh, there was something about researching other banking/credit union options. I may still do this, and could switch, or at least move some of my money to another institution, provided they have good online access and bill-paying services.
March: Career. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. But I don’t think it’s just one thing. I’ve been sort of stuck in a rut for awhile and this last month has been really painful. I’d really like a nice, long, PAID sabbatical to figure it all out. Or to catch up on all of the projects I’d like to try. I’m very done with certain aspects of my current position, so I’ve been researching other options like solar technician, physical therapist, personal trainer, something with parks and recreation, gardening, writing, information science, etc. All sorts of things. I read several career books, too (some on specific careers, some on how to figure out what you want to do next). I took a bunch of classes through the local college and conservation district on conservation topics (trees, birds, plants, etc.) to see if I’d enjoy that sort of career (and make some friends in the program/get to know people in the field). Some of the classes were better than others. I don’t really feel like I need to get the certificate, though, so if I decide to take more classes, I may end up skipping the ones they require for that and just take the ones that sound interesting for me. It’s a strategy that served me well in grad school. I can’t say that I’ve been pulled strongly in any one direction, so I’m going to continue my search into 2012.
April: Photography. Yeah, just check out my flickr account and you’ll see what I’ve been up to. I still need to work on seeing things in new ways, and some of the photography I want to do requires a better camera/lenses. I researched some higher end cameras, but I haven’t decided to purchase anything just yet. It appears that I’ve also made a list of photographers to check out for new ideas. I got that far. *grin*
May: Cooking. I have been cooking like crazy. Unfortunately this means I have also been eating like crazy. It would be great if everything I made were both healthy and delicious, but sometimes these things are mutually exclusive. I have hit upon a recipe for a Bolognese sauce that works as a sort of stew. I don’t know if you could call it a Bolognese sauce, anymore, as it has strayed pretty far from its roots. I like it so much I make it every other week or so. There’s a zucchini frittata I like quite a lot, too. In terms of sweet treats and baked goods, however, I haven’t found any really healthy recipes that taste amazing. I think the key here would be to eat moderate amounts of these treats and make the full-fat/full-sugar recipes (and/or keep experimenting with different amounts of fat and sugar to see how low you can go and have it still turn out good). I think I should branch out into Indian cooking this coming year. I’m eating some prepackaged stuff right now and it’s way too salty, and fatty and I’m sure I could do a better job making it myself.
June: Gardening. Tomatoes took over the garden this year. The fruits from the ones that seeded themselves were not as tasty as the ones from the new plants I bought – it’s probably better, then, since I’m not using heirloom varieties, to take out the plants that come up from the compost. And/or not compost the tomato plants/fruits in the bin that gets added back to the garden. I had just one zucchini plant and it was slow to grow and slow to produce (I think there may have been issues with pollination). The bush beans were great, and the basil. And the parsley that didn’t come up last year, is still growing now (despite being snowed on and frozen). Wow. I have a list (somewhere) of other seeds/vegetables I’d like to grow. So I may try a few new things this coming year. Not for sure decided on whether I’m going to stay here for another year. My lease is up in the spring and moving will definitely have an impact on what (and where) the garden will be. All of my worms either escaped or died when I brought them out of the basement in the spring. They were upset over the change in temperatures, I’m sure. There was an excellent fungus that took over the job of decomposition. I think I’m growing penicillin right now. I may try worms again, I may not. Worms would be better in a temperature controlled environment. If the bin didn’t attract so many little gnats, I’d just keep it inside… Maybe this would be possible if I started with a new bin and a fresh batch of worms and compost. The stuff I’ve already got going is already permeated with the fly eggs, is my guess.
July: Reading. I set my Goodreads challenge at 365 (a book a day!) and finished with 414 (I wrote something about this in my last post). I panicked about half-way through and read a shit-ton of picture books to pad my total. I read a lot, but this was kind of insane even for me. So, this year, I’m going to set a more reasonable goal for that AND (finally) clear off my current to-read shelves and start in on my Amazon lists. I did make some progress on all of my shelves (real and virtual) this year, but there’s always more. Seems like I acquire something new (somethingS new) every time I finish one title. I can’t imagine being one of those people who can’t find anything to read. Really? Who are you people? One of my challenges was allowing myself to give up on things that weren’t working for me. Especially books that I feel I *ought* to read (like the ones on the Caudill and Lincoln lists). They promote these in the schools, and I feel like I need to have some familiarity with them. I finished the Lincoln nominees (all except for one, which I couldn’t get into), and many of the Caudills are still languishing at the bottom of my list. I may or may not finish them in time for the February voting. Eh? It’s a 40-some book commitment to read everything on those lists. That’s significant. So, maybe for 2012, I’ll read only what I want to read.
August & September: Originally, August was supposed to have been all about fitness and exercise and weight loss. But I forgot. I thought it was supposed to be “Try new things!” So I had adventures instead. Which carried on into September, which was supposed to have been “Plan/go on a really awesome vacation.” I was too busy to plan a really awesome vacation. So I just took off random days throughout the summer. It was nice. I measured my body in August to use as a comparison at the end of the year, but I haven’t really made any weight loss progress since the summer. I have not been Vigilant. It’s sometimes difficult to care what I’m eating and how many calories are in it. Also, one of my goals was to experiment with new recipes and cooking…and I acquired a bread machine, access to Pinterest (where people post the most decadent recipes for sweets and candies), and everything seems to taste better with butter. I wasn’t eating a lot of bread before that. Or cookies. Or candy (I never even MADE candy much before this year – fudge a couple of times, and I gave it all away). So, yeah, I think I gained 5 pounds in the last 3 months. The chocolate chip cookie dough bon bons we made this weekend are definitely NOT helping with this goal. I may have promised to run a half marathon with my coworker next fall, so it would behoove me to train for that – and I mean prepare myself better than I did last time. I need to actually run 13.1 miles prior to the event. I’d only ever run 8 before the last one, and I managed to eke out about 10 and then nearly died. But I finished. I may follow some kind of training program to help me out. But I’ll get to that in my goals for 2012. I did go kayaking a fair amount. And hiking. And went lots of places I’d never been and took photos. My photo-buddy, JK, is always up for new adventures. I love that about her. I don’t know if I’ll ever reach my “goal weight,” which I chose arbitrarily, but I’ll keep plugging away at this. Maybe I’ll make it more of a priority in 2012.
October: Organization. Both start with O! I have been getting organized for what seems like my entire life. Assigning a month to focus on this didn’t really affect my progress one way or another. A lot of my “organization” is tied up in projects that I want to try/start/finish. So, it’s dependent on whether I feel like doing those projects or not. I finished a lot of projects this year, so I’ll call this successful. I’ve pretty much weeded most of the stuff I don’t need out of my life. And I did All The Things on Friday, so I’m caught up on housework, cooking, cleaning, and the usual stuff. What’s left is, like I said, the unusual stuff – the projects. I just noticed that they removed the donation bins from the parking lot at the Jewel. I wonder how long those have been gone? I know people regularly dumped stuff there that they weren’t supposed to. Good thing they’ve opened that Goodwill near work. I’ll be able to take my donations there in the future. Got half a bag ready, and plans to part with my old computer.
November: Writing. I signed up for Nanowrimo and wrote every day in November. I counted all of my blog entries toward my word count throughout the month (I also – briefly – kept a paper journal, too, which became too much to maintain simultaneously). I don’t know that any of them are novel-worthy, but the experiment was mostly to see if I could crank out something comprehensible and cohesive of novel-length in 30 days. I can. That’s heartening. It will probably take me longer to write something that’s publishable/a novel, but I have a great sense of accomplishment from finishing. I’ve done Nanowrimo a couple times in the past and haven’t finished. This year is all about TENACITY. I also challenged myself to write more letters to different people – you know, instead of just Oberon. That didn’t happen. Once I write something to Oberon, I don’t really feel like going over it again with everyone else. The blog, though, allows people to keep up with me. I learned there were at least 2 other people reading it aside from O., who are following my thoughts. Also heartening. Do more reviewing of a professional nature. Well…I’ve written several reviews for YALS this past year, which is good, but I don’t think it’s been more than I’ve done in previous years. I was going to go after some other reviewing “jobs” – VOYA will let you submit your credentials at any time – but I was working so hard on my 365 titles, I didn’t think I’d find time to read MORE books that weren’t already on my radar. Reading is supposed to be for pleasure, after all. I did, however, review most of the books I read for my Goodreads challenge. AND I managed to finish transferring my backlog of reviews (from 2005 – 2008) from word documents to GR. Not necessary by any means, but personally satisfying. There’s one thing I can cross off my list of projects, and I won’t EVER be as far behind as that again. Woo! I have not gotten around to using any of the writing prompts I’ve accumulated in various sources. Though, I imagine for practice, they would be helpful. I’ll get around to that in 2012. I did make myself accountable by journaling about my Goals periodically. At least once a month – to remind myself what I was working on and to note my progress. I did not consult my thesaurus (even once), although I meant to. There are only so many times one should say “exciting,” “entertaining,” and “fast-paced,” when describing a book. I overuse these in my reviews. They are my go-to words. I have managed to refrain from using “interesting.”
December: Crafts/Arts/Projects. I started and finished a bunch of projects this month. Cake batter fudge, bath salts, bath fizzies, 2 scarves. I also finished some of the projects I’d transfered to index cards – bird feeder out of terra cotta pots and saucers, hemmed curtains, aprons (almost finished – just needs some ties to hold it on!). Some of these are things that are just too time-consuming to finish quickly. Like, donating my old computer requires that I go through a bunch of boxes and wipe the hard drives, and scavenge any bits and bobs that I want to keep. That could take awhile. An evening, anyway. And I’ll have to want to do it a lot. So far…out of sight, out of mind.
K. Well, I feel I’ve done pretty well this past year. I didn’t finish everything, but that wasn’t the point. The point was to start and make progress and then evaluate. Which I have done. So. Onward and upward. I think this deserves a bon bon!
We’re renovating the lake house cabin (it’s going to be nicer than my apt. when it’s finished!), so I plan on spending lots of time there this year. And if things get bad, I can always run away and live there. Now that there’s heat and gas and Amenities. I’m tempted already.
